Day 9 - Almosters

I never consider myself a runner.  I have cool running pants in a variety of lengths, I have a belt to hold my iphone that wraps around my waist, I have shirts I wear just to run in, I have a routine depending on how far I am running but, I AM NOT A RUNNER. Until I run with the Almosters.  My crazy group of friends that get together at the Cochran's house to do just that....run and then drink!

Today though, I ran for a specific reason.  I ran to forget and to release the drama of yesterday.  I ran to find forgiveness for he who is incompetent and I ran to find peace with a hard choice I had to make.  As I was running, I was thinking of Oprah Winfrey's speech she gave on her Live your Best Life tour.  She talked about being at a fat farm and releasing "it" (it being a specific struggle she was facing at the time) and that as she ran, each lap she gave a little more up to God and asked for a sign.  It came to her, that day on that track at the fat farm.  In the form of a sweet lady wearing a purple jacket telling her that Steven Speilberg was on the phone and wanted to speak with her.

Nothing THAT profound happened for me today but a few things did happen.
#1 - I ran a hill that I hate and I told myself that if I could run that hill, I could forgive he who is incompetent.
#2 - I turned right to take the long road back to the Cochrans because I knew that once I made that turn, I couldn't go back and take the short cut.  Once I put my foot on the path to the right - it would lead me the long way and ultimately I needed the miles.
#3 - A man came running out from behind a tree as I was walking (occasionally, that happens to me, I forget I am running and I start to walk until I remember I should be running), and he yelled "Come On!!" and looked right at me (shocker)!  Then he said the rest of his sentence "get rid of this fat belly".  He made me laugh and I started to run.
#4 - Life is like a run, sometimes there are hard hills and sometimes you make the turns you don't want to but you know that you need to, there will always be cheerleaders to encourage you and that you can do it.
#5 - Mike will always be there.  As I was running, I saw him ahead of me a few times but, as I came up to the driveway, there he was just waiting for me.

And I will always have friends to listen, to know who I am and what I stand for and to hand me a glass of Proseco.

Day 8 - Bad News

This was the horrible rotten day that I walked home from FHES in 3 inch heels because I was furious!

Day 7 - FHES Open House

Day 6

The Big Reveal of classroom assignments!  And Visiting LJMS

PTA Directory Video 1

PTA Directory registration video.

Day 5 Breakfast is Served

I am not really a fan of food. A good meal is wasted on me unless it goes with a great glass of wine. Mike keeps us fed around here.

We have been doing the 17 day diet.  It really is a super easy diet to follow.  In the morning we either have eggs or a probiotic serving with fruit.  This morning Mike was using his new knife skills from a Culinaria class he took this weekend.  Everything was chopped up really nicely.

Day 4 PTA Meeting for After School Programs

Day 4:
If parents knew how many volunteer hours went into the After School Program, they would be amazed. I am amazed and I have seen the behind the scenes for two years now.  I need to create a Rachel worthy flow chart to really share who does what.  First off, most of the PTA Exec team was brought in on this meeting Lisa and I went to talk about the finance side of it, where the money goes and who handles what.  The After School Program has one parent to handle the registrations and another parent to handle the $$ generated from the registrations.  The same money handler takes the invoices from the Vendor Coordinator who makes sure that we have the coolest and best classes ever (she really does).  The Vendor Coordinator is the smoothest operator I have ever volunteered with (next to Bea, who walks on water at FHES in the volunteer circles).  Oh, and there is a chief volunteer who makes sure all wheels are on the ground and going - she has insane to do list management skills!  Then there were volunteers that were not even at the meeting (I think 4 others).  We hire a high school student to make sure all the kids are in the right places and no one mistakenly went home on the bus.
Sometimes, I sit at these meetings and wonder WHY the volunteers do it.  But we do and we rock!
I *heart* PTA Volunteers!

Day 3

Tonight was the fantasy football draft. As the time ticker went down, the excitement grew to building their teams.

Day 2 Tail of Emily Windsnap

Reading with Daisy has been a lot of fun this summer.

Day 1 Photo 365

Last year the family came up with a challenge - to take a picture everyday.  We called it photo365 - you had to pay $5 to get in and the pay out was $100.  The only limitation was to take a photo of an immediate family member.  The winner was Ryan - he never lost his focus and he took a picture everyday.  When he was at Camp Varsity, he took a picture - he never missed a day!  I am so proud of his dedication and commitment to the project.

This year, we are doing Blog365.  You must blog everyday for an entire year.  You can add a photo or just tell about your day - it's your blog and you can do it your way!
Let's see who stays in and let's see who drops out.

Join our family on our blogging journal.
Kesley